18
by Confiscated Retina
Summary: He's a teacher, too old, too unstable, too dangerous... Kurt swears to himself, not for the first time, that he will put aside these ridiculous fantasies.


**A/N:** It's been years since I've watched any _X-Men: Evolution_ and I don't know much about Kurt Wagner or Logan outside of it. I discovered that Kurt x Logan is a thing and this idea showed up, so here it is.

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**18**

He pauses under the mistletoe, spade-tipped tail twitching. Kurt Wagner looks over the crowded room as if unaware that he's standing in the door and pretends that he doesn't sense the tall figure approaching from behind.

"Huh," Logan says, stopping at Kurt's side with an armful of boxes. "Not until you're eighteen, bub."

Kurt jumps, feigning startled bewilderment.

"What?" he yelps in his thick accent, looking up with creditable horror at the beribboned green snarl of plant matter overhead. "Oh! Er, ha ha, I didn't see, ah..."

The short, well-muscled man quirks a dark brow at him and continues on his way. To hide his own embarrassment, Kurt teleports high enough to snag the mistletoe then quickly appears between Kitty and Rogue on the couch, holding it over his head with a grin. Before she can really start to complain about the sulfurous smell, he gives Kitty a quick peck on the lips and disappears in a cloud of smoke only to reappear across the room, laughing.

"Kurt!" Kitty yells, wiping a hand across her mouth before grabbing a nearby couch cushion.

In the ensuing chaos he manages to push away the memory of his failed attempt to catch a teacher's eye. Later that night Kurt stares at the ceiling in his dark room and mentally chastises himself. It's foolish to even entertain the thoughts about Logan which have wandered through his mind almost from the first day they met. He's a teacher, too old, too unstable, too dangerous... Kurt swears to himself, not for the first time, that he will put aside these ridiculous fantasies.

He doesn't, of course. It's not for a lack of trying, but there is something almost magnetic about the gruff man who fights with metal in his bones. Just when Kurt is sure he has finally grown past this infatuation, found someone safe and proper to be with, Logan reminds him in some way that he is what Kurt longs for and longs to be.

When the true nature of his parentage comes crashing down upon Kurt, a strong hand on his shoulder and a look of quiet understanding are more comfort than any of his classmates' words. When his terrifying mother, whose existence as life giver and enemy he could never reconcile, is shattered into a thousand stone fragments, Logan lets him strike out with his grief and rage with no judgement on his rugged face. Kurt loses count of just how many times those animal reflexes have saved his life.

Days, weeks...months and years pass. The students of the Xavier Institute change, some graduating or leaving to pursue different paths. Kurt's extended family of friends and allies shifts with the seasons as he grows into his powers more fully and into a body that is wiry, lithe, and strong. Logan comes and goes and Kurt gets better at pretending he isn't so relieved when the older man returns each time.

His eighteenth birthday is a subdued affair. Kurt has always imagined there would be more of a party than there is, but recent losses to their team and another attack on the Institute by an anti-mutant group has somewhat tainted the atmosphere. He watches Logan talking quietly to the Professor from a vantage point on the couch and decides he doesn't really mind.

Kurt is in the hallway, headed toward his room for the night, when a gruff voice speaks behind him.

"Hey," Logan is surprisingly close when Kurt turns.

He opens his mouth to speak only to find his chin gripped in strong fingers, a warm mouth over his own. He can feel Logan's beard stubble through his thin blue fur. It's better than anything he's ever let himself imagine. When Logan pulls back, all Kurt can do is stare at the man.

"I said not until you were eighteen, bub," he grins and brushes past Kurt on his way down the hall.

Tail twitching in contemplation, Kurt smiles and follows Logan into the shadows.


End file.
